Economic and Environmental Role of Wetlands

Interview with Nick Davidson, Ramsar Convention’s Deputy Secretary General at CBD, COP11. The key role that rapidly diminishing wetlands play in supporting human life and biodiversity needs to be recognized and integrated into decision-making as a vital component of the transition to a resource-efficient, sustainable world economy, according to a new TEEB report released today.

London, 14 January - The UK is well-known as a major financial centre, but it is also a global hub in the fast-growing green finance arena, according to a new report released today by the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial system.

The report comes as policymakers and financial institutions are focusing on how to mobilize the capital required to implement Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which were agreed last year.

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The report is being released at a major event co-hosted by UNEP and the City of London Corporation, where a new Green Finance Initiative will be launched by the City with the aim of making London the world leader in green finance.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "2016 is set to be the year of green finance. Across the world, we are seeing a growing number of countries aligning their financial systems with the sustainability imperative. I wholeheartedly welcome this new green finance initiative from the City of London, the first of what's likely to be a very busy year."

Sir Roger Gifford, chair of the Green Finance Initiative, said "The City of London Corporation is determined that 2016 be the year in which policymakers and practitioners convene to drive the long-term development of the UK's green finance sector. As the UN Environment Programme put it so clearly, the financial system we need is one that fully supports and facilitates the transition toward a low-carbon economy, and we believe London can play a leading role in this process."

The report, entitled The UK: global hub, local dynamics - mapping the transition to a sustainable financial system profiles the actions that have been taken over the past 15 years to make environmental and social factors a core part of banking, capital markets, investment and insurance. It shows that the UK has evolved a distinctive model of innovation in sustainable finance, based on a close interaction between social entrepreneurs, mainstream financial institutions and, increasingly, financial policy and regulation. Importantly, this process has been deepened by the response to the global financial crisis, with a more profound focus on the systemic implications of issues such as climate change.

The report points to a number of firsts in sustainable finance that the UK has achieved. Back in 2000, the UK was the first country to require pension funds to state whether they took social and environmental issues into account. Last year, the Prudential Regulatory Authority, part of the Bank of England, undertook the world's first review of the implications of climate change for the UK insurance sector.

Nick Robins, Co-director of the UNEP Inquiry and co-author of the report, said, "London is not just a global financial centre, but also a hub for green and sustainable finance. It is striking just how many key global initiatives are clustered in London - whether on responsible investment, green bonds, unburnable carbon, sustainable banking, climate disclosure or insurance risk."

The report concludes that UK leadership in many areas is clear, yet sustainability could be classified as a 'sleeping giant' of the financial system. Based on deep interactions with UK stakeholders, the report closes with a set of priorities for a UK Sustainable Financial Strategy, including:

Establish a Green Bond hub to take forward the UK's position as one of the top issues of bonds focused on environmental solutions

Empower individuals with the right information on the sustainability performance of their investments

The UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System was established in January 2014 with a mandate to advance policy options that would improve the effectiveness of the financial system in supporting sustainable development.

Supported by a high-level Advisory Council of financial leaders, the Inquiry has looked in-depth at practice in more than 15 countries as well as across key segments of the financial system, such as banking, bond and equity markets, institutional investment, insurance as well as monetary policy. To reach its findings, the Inquiry has worked with central banks, environment ministries, international financial institutions as well as major banks, stock exchanges, pension funds and insurance companies. Its global report, The Financial System We Need, was released in October 2015 and is available at http://unepinquiry.org/.

About the Green Finance Initiative

The Green Finance Initiative (GFI) was launched in January 2016 to promote London's status as a leading global centre for green financial and professional services, advocate for specific policy and regulatory developments and provide leadership on issues relating to market impediments and opportunities.

In its first phase, the Initiative, chaired by former Lord Mayor of London Sir Roger Gifford, will focus on boosting green bond issuance, developing accreditation, transparency and benchmarking standards, and informing and incentivizing the market.